Miraculous Chains
by Fabius Maximus
Summary: It's every person's dream, to be a hero, to have powers. But you know what they say: Best read the fine print. A somewhat darker take on Miraculous Ladybug.


Marinette is very happy to be Ladybug. She always smiles.

Because if she doesn't, Tikki might get _upset._

* * *

 _Nobody_ asks the right questions. The Order of the Miraculous wasn't created to protect the Kwamis from man, but mankind from the Kwamis. It didn't take long for the wizards who first forged the miraculouses to realize that the Kwamis were utterly dangerous—some malicious, some friendly, but all of them utterly _inhuman_. To be used only at the last measure, their wielders ringed about by protective enchantments and fellows who would take the Kwamis back and put them in their box.

But one student saw only the good and not the danger.

Don't hold it against him. Master Fu acts like a caricature of a wise Asian because that's what Wayzz thinks he should act like—the masquerade of an inhuman being.

There's very little left of the human Master Fu, not after over a century and a half of bearing a Kwami's influence. Just enough to keep coming up with good reasons why the Kwamis shouldn't be released, shouldn't be given new "chosen." Not yet. Why they should be kept in the box, where humanity is protected from them.

Not until Hawkmoth appeared.

* * *

For Marinette it was an adventure. Until she neglected to follow Tikki's advice. That was when her Kwami turned off her ability to taste for the day.

For her own good. Tiki is the Kwami of creation, after all. She helps people grow, create, change. And how could that be bad?

But Ebola is _also_ growth. Tikki's ideas are not human ideas, but that's fine. She'll bring Marinette around to her way of thinking. After all, she's _always_ with Marinette. Talking to her, watching her.

Judging her. Prepared to influence her. Punish her.

For her own good. _Always_ for her own good.

Marinette agrees. She's very _certain_ to tell Tikki she agrees. In her most secret thoughts, when she's safe, when Tikki is otherwise concerned, Marinette fears that one day, she'll really _believe_ that it's for her own good.

* * *

Plagg is safer. He's lazy, as befits the embodiment of destruction. These mayfly humans will vanish soon enough so why worry about them? Adrien gives him cheese as befits his indolent nature. For Adrien, escaping from his father's clutches to have adventures is reward enough.

Adrien never bothers to consider that helping him escape, rather than fight for his family is _also_ a form of entropy. In the end, running away will just leave Adrien alone, his family shattered beyond all hope of recovery.

He never bothers to consider the fact that Plagg admitted to killing the dinosaurs, but has never expressed _remorse_ for destroying them. It is not in destruction's nature to worry about what it leaves in its wake, after all.

And one day, Plagg will be "bored" of what Adrien has to offer him. None of the Black Cat's long term partners have died natural deaths, and many have found their end at the hands of their "trusted" partner, while others have died utterly forlorn, the power of destruction taking _everything_ from them.

But Adrien doesn't know that. And he's happy. And Plagg is happy.

For now.

* * *

And who is Hawkmoth? Nobody knows. Has he been utterly subsumed by his Kwami? Just puppetted around? Gabriel _does_ seem to have difficulties understanding other people… Or is he wielding the Miraculous for another purpose? Why does he keep sending out Akuma to lure out Ladybug and Chat Noir? Is it solely for their miraculouses?

* * *

Marinette doesn't know. She hardly even dares think about it. Tikki is always there, always watching, after all. Ayla has come too close to the truth more than once, and Marinette was punished for it—for her own good. She fears that if it happens again, Alya might be the one who is punished. That's why she is so desperate to convince Tikki that the other miraculouses need to be kept safe. That they can only be distributed for short times. After all, what if Hakwmoth got them? For now, her "best" friend agrees.

For now. For now, her friends are safe.

And in the moments before she sleeps, Marinette prays to a God she is no longer certain she believes in, that one day, Hawkmoth will win. One day, she'll feel the earrings being torn from her.

One day, she'll be free.


End file.
